Babysitter of SHIELD
by DaLiza
Summary: Coulson is babysitting Fitz and Simmons's infant daughter when Hydra soldiers attack.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: I have to thank my husband, an experienced martial artist, for choreographing the fight scene. Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

"We appreciate you babysitting for us," Fitz told Coulson as they sat in the living room of Fitz and Simmons's home in Scotland. "We haven't had a night out together since Eleanor was born."

Coulson was holding five month old Eleanor Elizabeth Fitz-Simmons in his lap and making silly faces at her. "It's my pleasure, Fitz. I've been looking forward to spending some time with my goddaughter. I still can't believe how much she looks like Simmons. She's got the same eyes, the same nose, and the same smile. Those crazy curls, on the other hand, are definitely from you."

Fitz laughed. "My mum said that my hair looked exactly like that when I was Eleanor's age."

"Your mum must be excited to have a grandchild."

"She is. She's always buying Eleanor new clothes and toys. So are Jemma's parents. They bought her the outfit she's wearing now." Fitz motioned to the purple onesie with the words "Smart like Mum" written in pink.

"Actually, I have something for her too," Coulson said, taking a wrapped present out of his bag.

Fitz opened it to discover a black onesie that said "Future S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent" in white letters. Below the words was the S.H.I.E.L.D. logo. "Thank you, sir. To be honest, I hope she picks a less dangerous profession. Jemma and I almost lost each other so many times. If we lost Eleanor…"

Coulson put a hand on Fitz's shoulder. "I understand."

"Are you planning to try to recruit her when she turns 18?"

"Honestly…the thought had crossed my mind. If she turns out to be as brilliant as you and Simmons, she'd be a tremendous asset to S.H.I.E.L.D.."

At that moment, Simmons came down the stairs to join them. She was wearing a red dress and matching heels. Grinning, Fitz stood up and walked over to her. He took her hands in his. "You look beautiful, Jemma."

"You look quite handsome yourself," she said, admiring his dark suit and red tie. The couple exchanged a heated kiss before they remembered that their former boss was watching them.

"Sorry about that." Fitz was unable to make eye contact with Coulson. "Jemma, look what Coulson bought for Eleanor."

Simmons picked it up and gasped. "A 'Future S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent' onesie? That's amazing! I didn't know they made such a thing."

"I had it made," Coulson said with pride. "I know a guy."

Simmons looked at Eleanor sitting contentedly on Coulson's lap. "It seems like you two are getting along."

"We're doing great. Aren't we, Eleanor?"

Eleanor didn't answer, but she smiled a toothless smile at her mother.

"Please feel free to call us if you have any questions about anything," Simmons said.

"I read the instructions Fitz gave me." Coulson held up the ten page document he'd been given soon after he'd volunteered to babysit. "They seemed very thorough. I doubt I'll need to bother you."

"You wouldn't be bothering us," Simmons assured him. She was starting to feel guilty about leaving her daughter. Fitz sensed her apprehension and squeezed her hand.

"We'll be okay, I promise," said Coulson. "You guys deserve an evening to yourselves. Go have a good time."

Fitz and Simmons lingered for a few more minutes before kissing their baby girl goodbye and walking out the door.

Eleanor cried as soon as her parents were out of sight. Coulson rocked her in his arms. She cried.

He put her down on the floor. She cried.

He put her in a baby swing. Still she cried.

Coulson took her out of the baby swing and held her again. "How about I sing you some of your favorite songs?" He sang "Twinkle twinkle little star," "Baa baa black sheep," and every other song mentioned in Fitz's instructions. Still she cried.

"Maybe you're hungry. Fitz said that you had a bottle before I came, but maybe you want another one." He removed a bottle from the fridge, heated it, waited a minute for it to cool, and then attempted to put it in Eleanor's mouth. She shoved it away and continued crying.

"So you're not hungry. Maybe you'd like a toy." He gave her a little monkey stuffed animal. Then a horse stuffed animal. Then a teddy bear. Nothing worked.

Coulson began to think that he was the worst babysitter ever…and then he had an idea. He used the controls on his prosthetic hand to make his Captain America inspired shield materialize. Eleanor was so surprised that she finally stopped crying.

Coulson breathed a deep sigh of relief. "You like my shield, huh? Your dad made it for me. He's a really smart guy."

Eleanor looked at Coulson like she understood him and agreed with the sentiment.

Coulson held her close to his chest. "Speaking of your dad…there's something I've wanted to say to you. A few years ago, your mom was studying a big alien rock that turned out to be a portal to another planet. When that portal took your mom away, your dad spent six months looking for her without any success. I admired his determination, but I thought there was nothing more he could do. I told him that he needed to say goodbye to your mom, that she would want him to move on. If he had listened to me, he never would have found her. They never would have gotten married and you would never have been born. So for that, I'm truly sorry."

Eleanor responded by spitting up on Coulson's shirt.

"I guess I deserved that. Hopefully now we're even." He wiped his shirt with some paper towels and then glanced at Fitz's instructions. "Okay. According to the schedule your parents left, we should be getting you ready for bed now." He changed her diaper, put her in pajamas, and sat with her in a rocking chair in her nursery. Many minutes passed as they rocked in silence.

As he looked at the beautiful baby in his arms, Coulson found himself imagining a life in which he had children of his own. Who would their mother be? Maybe Audrey…in a world where she didn't think he was dead. Maybe Rosalind…in a world where she hadn't been murdered by Ward. Maybe someone he hadn't met yet? No, no, no. The director of S.H.I.E.L.D. didn't have the luxury of being a family man. There was no way to be a good parent when you were constantly saving the world from imminent destruction. Fitz and Simmons knew that; it was why they had left S.H.I.E.L.D. before starting a family. Being godfather to their baby was most likely the closest he would ever come to fatherhood, so he intended to be the best godfather possible.

Just as Eleanor fell asleep, an alarm sounded throughout the house. Eleanor immediately woke up and started crying.

"It's okay, it's okay," Coulson said, patting her back. "It's just the security system your dad installed." He moved to a control panel on the wall and entered the code he'd learned from Fitz's instructions. The alarm turned off. "That was the perimeter alarm, meaning someone is within fifty feet of the house. Let's check the security cameras and see if we can find out who it is."

Accessing the camera feed, Coulson saw a group of men carrying rifles heading for the house's front door. They were wearing black tactical armor decorated with a familiar octopus logo. "Hydra, I know you guys are evil, but did you have to come after me when I'm babysitting?"

Coulson kissed the crying baby's forehead and laid her in her crib. "You stay here," he said. "I'll be right back." He slipped his pistol from its holster on the small of his back and checked the clip. He had six rounds and there were eight men on the monitor. Taking a deep breath, he stepped into the hall.

He crouched at the top of the narrow stairs, concealing himself as much as possible around a corner. The front door exploded inward and the Hydra soldiers rushed inside. They began to fan out, each man scanning the room. Coulson started firing. His first shot missed. His next two bullets were more successful; they were head shots that took two soldiers down instantly. Coulson's fourth shot clipped another soldier's neck and the man staggered, pressing his hand to a sudden outpouring of blood. The remaining soldiers returned fire. Coulson lunged back down the hall as bullets tore through the corner of wall where he had been hiding. His ears were ringing from the gunshots, but he heard the sound of feet rushing up the stairs. Coulson activated his Captain America shield, sprinted toward the stairs, and leapt like a diver going into a pool.

One of the soldiers had nearly reached the top of the stairs. Coulson's shield hit him squarely in the face. His head snapped back, he went limp, and he and Coulson fell barreling down the stairs. Four more soldiers flanked the bottom of the staircase, but none could get a clear shot past their compatriot and the shield. Coulson landed in a heap and rolled. While protecting his left side with the shield, he fired upward, catching a soldier on his right under the chin. The man's body dropped beside him. Bullets from the surviving soldiers ricocheted off the shield. The men swore as they were peppered by shrapnel from their own rounds. Coulson caught a glimpse of two soldiers flinching on the far side of his shield.

Where the last soldier had fallen, another stepped in, lowering his rifle toward Coulson's face. Coulson stood up, knocking the barrel of the rifle away. The soldier brought the butt of the rifle around to smash him in the face. Coulson moved just in time and the blow struck him on the shoulder instead. It hurt like hell. He drove the barrel of his pistol under the belt line of the man's flack vest and fired his last round into his enemy's belly. He let the gun drop along with the man and turned to face the two remaining soldiers.

Coulson advanced, watching them through the shimmering pattern of his shield. The soldiers seemed rattled. "Put your guns down," Coulson said in his most commanding voice. "Surrender now and you can still walk away from this." The light of his shield suddenly flickered and went out. He looked down at his inert left hand, realizing that the battery was completely drained. Using it to entertain Eleanor had been a mistake. "Well, that's not good." The soldiers opened fire.

Coulson plunged to the floor, pulling one of the dead men over himself and using the man's armor for cover. He fumbled for the rifle still tethered to the corpse, switched it to full auto and returned fire blindly. He got lucky. The last two soldiers dropped down dead.

Coulson rolled the body off of his chest and scooted over to the far wall. His heart was racing and he sat with his back against the wall, working to steady his breathing. Sitting against the wall next to him was the soldier he'd shot in the neck. He was still alive, but very pale. His breathing was ragged and his hands were pressed to his throat. As Coulson studied the soldier's face, he realized his enemy was young, probably in his early twenties. He didn't look like a coldblooded assassin; he looked like a kid who'd made some bad choices.

Coulson addressed the dying soldier. "The next time Hydra tries to kill me, I hope they come to the base. It was really rude of you guys to shoot up my friends' house. They're good people who have suffered enough. More than enough."

"It wasn't supposed…to go down…like this," gasped the soldier. "They said this was…an easy job…easy money."

"Hydra told you that taking out the director of S.H.I.E.L.D would be easy? Talk about adding insult to injury."

"You're the…director of S.H.I.E.L.D?"

Coulson's instincts told him the young soldier's surprise was genuine. His voice hardened as his anger rose. "I wasn't the target. You bastards were after FitzSimmons!"

"Who? No…the asset."

"The asset?" Coulson's own words came back to him. _She'd be a tremendous asset to S.H.I.E.L.D.._ "Oh God. You were here for the baby?"

The young man said nothing. He was gone.

Coulson sprinted up the stairs to Eleanor's room. When he entered the nursery, his heart stopped.

The crib was empty.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading! All comments are greatly appreciated.**


	2. Chapter 2

"It's nice to have an evening to ourselves," Fitz said to Simmons as they ate dinner at the Port Na Craig Inn and Restaurant in the town of Pitlochry.

"It is," Simmons agreed. From the window next to their table she could see the river Tummel. "You picked a lovely restaurant."

Fitz smiled, happy to be praised by the woman he loved. "I used to come here as a kid. I'm glad you like it."

As they chewed in silence for the next few minutes, Fitz studied his wife's face. He could tell that her mind was far, far away. He placed his fork down on his empty plate and held her hand. "You're thinking about Eleanor, aren't you?"

"Yes," she admitted after swallowing her last bite.

"It's okay. I've been thinking about her too. The way she smiled at you before we left…it reminded me of your smile. She's like a miniature Jemma, which is just what I was hoping for. Have I told you that I love when you read stories to her and you use different voices for different characters? And I love that you talk to her about science and nature and the world around her. You're an amazing mother, Jemma."

Simmons leaned across the table and kissed him. "And you're a wonderful father. I love watching you play with Eleanor, and I love listening to you sing her the same Scottish lullabies your mum sang to you."

He blushed. "I don't sing them as well as my mum did. When Eleanor's old enough, she'll probably tell me that my singing sounds terrible."

"She'll do no such thing. She enjoys your singing as much as I do."

"I feel very lucky to have you and Eleanor in my life. Sometimes I worry that it's too good to be true…that I'll wake up one day and realize that our marvelous life together was nothing more than the fantasy of a man with brain damage."

"Oh, Fitz," Simmons said softly. "I can assure you that it's not."

"That's exactly what my fantasy wife would say."

Simmons rolled her eyes in mock exasperation. "You're incorrigible. Eleanor gets it from you."

"Coulson thinks the only thing I contributed to our daughter is her hair."

"I do hope she's not giving him too much trouble. You know how fussy she can be at bedtime."

"Coulson survived being stabbed in the heart and having his hand cut off; I'm sure he can handle a fussy baby. Well, fairly sure. I did leave him very detailed instructions."

Their waiter, a young man with red curly hair named Fergus, came over to collect their dishes. "Did you enjoy your meal?"

"Yes, thank you," Fitz and Simmons said simultaneously.

"Can I interest you in the dessert menu?"

Fitz turned to Simmons. "What do you think, Jemma?"

"It's been a long while since we've had something decadent." She smiled at her husband before turning to face Fergus. "We'll look at the menu."

Fergus returned a couple minutes later and handed dessert menus to Fitz and Simmons. "If you're looking for a recommendation, my favorite is the banoffee pie. It's made with fresh bananas, cream, and toffee on a pastry base. We can also add some chocolate, if you'd like."

"I think I'll need some time to decide," Simmons said.

"Of course," said Fergus. "I'll be back soon." He smiled at the couple and then went to check on another table.

"The banoffee pie sounds good," Fitz said. "So does the sticky toffee pudding. I had that all the time as a kid."

"I might go with the chocolate torte," Simmons said. "Or the apple crumble."

Suddenly both of their cell phones chirped. "That could be Coulson," Fitz said. He took his phone out of his pocket while Simmons dug hers out of her purse.

Fitz reached his phone first. "It's an alert from our security system. Something triggered the perimeter alarm. It's probably nothing, but I'll check the security camera feed to be sure." Seconds later, Fitz saw the Hydra soldiers approaching their home. He jumped out of his seat.

Seeing Fitz's horrified expression, Simmons also leapt to her feet. "What is it?"

Their waiter rushed back to their table. "Is something wrong, sir?"

"My wife and I have to go home immediately." He gave Fergus all the cash he had in his wallet, which was more than enough to pay for their meal and leave a generous tip. "Keep the change." He grabbed Simmons's hand and they left the restaurant as quickly as they could without breaking into a run.

As soon as they got into their car, Fitz sped out of the parking lot.

Simmons had never seen him drive so recklessly. "Fitz, what did you see?"

"Hydra. I saw Hydra soldiers heading for our front door."

"No…" Simmons's eyes filled with tears. "We don't work for S.H.I.E.L.D. anymore; why can't they leave us alone? If they hurt our daughter—"

"There's no reason for them to target Eleanor. It must be Coulson they want. They could have followed him to our house. They probably figure that it's easier to attack him there than at the base. But Coulson will have heard the alarm. He'll be ready for them. He and Eleanor will be fine." Fitz hoped he sounded more confident than he felt.

Simmons took Fitz's phone out of his pocket. "I'll see if I can access one of the cameras inside the house." She didn't know the security system as well as Fitz, but he had showed her the basics. Soon she found herself watching as Coulson and the Hydra soldiers silently exchanged gunfire.

"What do you see?" Fitz asked, resisting the urge to look at the phone so he could keep his eyes on the winding country road.

"They're shooting at each other. Bullets are flying everywhere! Coulson has taken out some of the soldiers; I can see bodies on the—oh no! I can't see anything now! I think a bullet hit the living room camera. I'll try another one." Simmons struggled to remember the series of commands needed to switch camera feeds. She kept trying and eventually was able to access the feed from her daughter's room. "It worked! I can see Eleanor!"

"Is she okay?"

"She's in her crib. She's crying, but she doesn't appear to be hurt." She sighed in relief. "Hold on, Eleanor! Mummy and Daddy are coming home as fast as they—NO NO NO!"

Fitz's heart was beating so fast that he thought he might have a heart attack. His face was turning red and he was sweating profusely. "WHAT?! What's happening?"

"There's a man coming through Eleanor's window! He's taking her out of her crib! They're going out the window!" Simmons started sobbing. "They took our daughter, Fitz!"

Fitz's whole body shook with a level of rage he had never experienced before. He pushed the gas pedal to the floor and the car tore down the uneven road. "I'm going to kill them. I'm going to kill every last one of them."

Twenty agonizing minutes and a couple near collisions later, Fitz and Simmons arrived home. Several agents from the S.H.I.E.L.D. U.K. branch were already there, their quinjet parked on the front lawn. As Fitz and Simmons got out of their car, they saw body bags being carried out their front door.

Fitz rushed over to the nearest agent, a middle aged man with a dark beard. "Is Coulson alive?"

"Who are you?" The agent asked.

"Leopold Fitz. This is my bloody house!"

The agent took a step back. "My apologies, Mr. Fitz. I'll get the director for you."

Coulson ran toward them moments later, joining them on the front lawn. "Fitz…Simmons…I'm so sorry to have to tell you—"

"Our daughter's been kidnapped," Simmons said through tears. "I saw it happen on the security cameras."

Fitz wrapped his arms around her and she sobbed into his chest.

Coulson lowered his head. "I'm sorry you had to see that. I'm so sorry it happened. I thought Hydra was after me; it never occurred to me that they were planning to take Eleanor. I want you to know that I'm devoting all of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s available resources to finding your daughter." He tried to put a hand on Simmons's shoulder, but Fitz pushed him away.

"You were supposed to protect her!" Fitz shouted. "We trusted you with our baby and you _lost_ her! Hydra could be hurting her _right now_!"

"I don't think Hydra will hurt her."

"They tortured Jemma! Ward made me listen to her screams!"

"I talked to one of the soldiers before he died," Coulson said. "He called Eleanor an 'asset.' You don't harm an asset. You use it to get something you want."

"So what do they want?" Simmons asked, tears still running down her face.

"I have some theories," Coulson said. "We captured a few important Hydra guys last week. It's possible Hydra wants to trade Eleanor for the prisoners. It's also possible that—"

"They took Eleanor to force us to work for them," interrupted Fitz.

"We know they've done that kind of thing before," Coulson said, thinking of Mike Peterson and his son Ace.

Fitz held his wife close and kissed her forehead. "We'll get her back, Jemma. We'll do whatever it takes."

* * *

A few hours later, after Coulson and the other S.H.I.E.L.D. agents had left, after Simmons had cried herself to sleep, Fitz was lying awake in bed when his phone rang. The screen displayed a number he didn't recognize.

He took a deep breath and touched the "answer" button.

"If you want to see your daughter again," the caller said, "you're going to do exactly what I tell you."

* * *

 **Thanks for reading! All comments are greatly appreciated.**


	3. Chapter 3

"It's been almost 24 hours since Hydra took Eleanor," Coulson said to May as they sat in his office. He took his prosthetic hand from its charger and reattached it to his arm. "We've got every agent we can spare looking for her and we have nothing to show for it!"

"We'll find her, Phil," said May. "It's only a matter of time." She looked at his bloodshot eyes. "You should get some sleep."

"How can I sleep knowing what FitzSimmons are going through? They lost their daughter on _my_ watch. I have to get her back!"

"Stop blaming yourself. There was no way for us to know that Hydra was interested in Eleanor. It was logical to assume that you were the target."

"Logical, but wrong." Feeling a headache coming on, he rubbed his temples. "I'm going to reach out to some of our less than savory contacts and have them deliver a message to Hydra. I'll offer the prisoners we captured last week in exchange for Eleanor's safe return."

May shook her head. "I want to find her just as much as you do, but that's a really bad idea. Releasing those prisoners would put the public at risk."

"We caught them once. I'm sure we could catch them again."

"And if they kill innocent people before we can recapture them, how would you live with yourself?"

"How will I live with myself if we don't get Eleanor back?" He opened and closed all of his desk drawers. "And where the hell is my ibuprofen?"

May opened the bottom right drawer, moved around some papers, and retrieved the bottle of medicine. She handed it to Coulson.

"Thanks, May." He poured himself a glass of water and took two pills. "Clearly I'm not at my best right now."

"Which is why you should sleep," she argued.

"I'll sleep later," he said unconvincingly. "Here's the new plan. We interrogate the prisoners. Maybe one of them knows what Hydra wants with Eleanor."

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, Coulson and May were in an interrogation room with Hydra hitman Stanley Zimmerman. Standing over six feet tall, with his head shaved bald and tattoos covering most of his body, he was used to intimidating people with a single look.

"I got nothing to say to S.H.I.E.L.D.," Zimmerman said. "And nothing you say or do to me is gonna change that."

May turned to Coulson. "Sir, can I have five minutes alone with the prisoner?"

"Don't you think it's a little early to be getting physical?"

"Normally I'd agree. But she's my goddaughter too."

"You expect me to believe that this little Asian girl is gonna beat me up?" Zimmerman laughed. "Take your best shot, Mulan."

Throwing his hands in the air, Coulson stood up and walked toward the door. "Okay then. Have fun, May." He waited outside the interrogation room, pretending he didn't hear swearing and screaming.

May opened the door. "He's ready to talk now, sir." Coulson reentered the room and sat next to May.

Zimmerman's nose was bleeding and his left hand looked broken. "S.H.I.E.L.D. is a bunch of hypocrites," he said. "You call yourselves the good guys, but you have no problem assaulting defenseless prisoners."

"We _are_ the good guys," Coulson said. "But when you go after one of ours, all bets are off. Tell me everything you know about Eleanor Fitz-Simmons."

"I don't know that name. She's a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent?"

"No," Coulson replied. "She's a baby. Hydra kidnapped her last night."

"A baby?" Zimmerman looked away. "I don't like it when they mess with babies. Look, I've taken out a lot of people for Hydra, but I ain't ever hurt a kid."

"What do you mean by 'mess with babies'? What does Hydra plan to do to Eleanor?"

"I don't know. Hydra takes babies for a bunch of different reasons. Does this baby have powers? The scientists love cutting up powered people."

Coulson thought of Daisy's mother and the horrors she endured. "No powers we know of. The parents aren't inhumans."

"Then they probably want to blackmail the parents. People will do pretty much anything if you threaten their kids."

"Any other reasons Hydra would take a baby?"

"The parents of this baby…anything special about them?"

"They're both geniuses."

"Oh. In that case, they might want the baby for the loyalty program."

"What's the loyalty program?"

"Like I said, Hydra blackmails people, but you can never really trust people you force to work for you. They're always looking for ways to betray you, ways to escape. So this one guy, Miles Shepard, he gets this idea. Kidnap babies of gifted people, raise 'em with Hydra values. Then you don't have to worry about their loyalty."

Coulson's headache had been fading. Now it was back and he felt sick to his stomach. How could he tell Fitz and Simmons that Hydra, the organization that had caused them so much pain, might be planning to raise their daughter to be just like them?

* * *

 _Coulson knocked on the front door of Fitz and Simmons's house in Perthshire. His relationship with the couple had been strained ever since Eleanor was kidnapped all those years ago. He kept trying to make amends. Tonight he was going to make them dinner, but he knew that a meal wasn't going to take their pain away. Nothing ever would. They would never forgive him, and he would never forgive himself._

 _Expecting Fitz or Simmons, Coulson was surprised when a teenage girl, her brown curly hair in a ponytail, opened the door._

" _Who are you?" The girl asked, eyeing him suspiciously._

" _Phil Coulson," he answered. He had never seen the girl before, but her features were familiar somehow. Suddenly it dawned on him. She looked like Simmons, but she had Fitz's curls. "You're Eleanor! You've come home!"_

 _The girl's face hardened. "My name isn't Eleanor. It's Kayla. That's the name my_ _ **real**_ _parents gave me."_

" _No. Leo Fitz and Jemma Simmons are your real parents."_

" _I know what they did to me. What S.H.I.E.L.D. did to me."_

 _Coulson's stomach churned. "What did your 'real parents' tell you?"_

" _They told me everything. I know that Fitz and Simmons were agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and scientific geniuses. They only conceived me so they could use me for their twisted experiments. I was a helpless baby and they tortured me. But my real parents rescued me."_

" _NO! That's not what happened! Fitz and Simmons never experimented on you. They loved you! When Hydra kidnapped you as a baby, they were devastated. They never recovered."_

" _You expect me to believe that? Everyone knows that S.H.I.E.L.D. is full of liars. And if you're Phil Coulson, director of S.H.I.E.L.D.," she sneered, "then you must be the biggest liar of them all. I'll deal with you just like I dealt with my so-called parents."_

 _Coulson's blood froze in his veins. "What did you do to FitzSimmons?"_

" _I shot them," she said with a smile. "They tried to pretend that they were innocent. When they realized that I wasn't fooled, they begged for mercy. I gave them none."_

" _Eleanor—"_

" _It's Kayla!" She took out a gun and shot Coulson in the head._

* * *

"Coulson. Coulson, wake up."

He opened his eyes. As the world came into focus, he saw that May was standing over him. He peeled his face from his desk and sat up.

"It sounded like you were having a nightmare. You shouted Eleanor's name."

"I dreamed that Eleanor was a teenager raised by Hydra to believe that S.H.I.E.L.D was evil. She killed Fitz and Simmons and then she killed me."

"That's not going to happen. Her biggest problem as a teenager will be fighting acne. And having crushes on boys who aren't good enough for her."

Coulson attempted a smile. "I'm sure you're right. So, is there any news?"

"I questioned the other prisoners. They didn't have anything to say beyond what Zimmerman already told us."

"So you think Zimmerman was telling the truth?"

"Maybe. It's hard to tell with these guys." She sighed. "Fitz is here. He wants to see you. Are you up for that?"

"No," Coulson said. He didn't want to talk to Fitz until he had something good to tell him. "But send him in anyway."

May left his office and a couple minutes later Fitz walked in. Coulson noticed the dark circles under his eyes and suspected he hadn't slept since Eleanor was kidnapped. "I don't have any news for you yet," said Coulson. "But we're making progress."

Fitz said nothing.

"How are you and Simmons holding up?"

"Not well," Fitz admitted, a tear running down his face. "Our house is filled with Eleanor's things…her clothes, her toys, her books, her bottles in the fridge. Everywhere we look there's something of hers. But there's no Eleanor." He wiped his face with the back of his hand. "Both my mum and Jemma's parents are planning to visit next week. Should I say that Eleanor's sick, or should I tell them that their granddaughter has been kidnapped and they may never see her again?"

"We've got our best agents looking for her. We're going to find her, I promise."

Fitz looked down at his hands. "I know a way to find her."

"You do?" Coulson's eyes widened in surprise.

"Hydra contacted me. They said that if I want to see Eleanor again, I have to do a job for them."

"What's the job?"

Fitz raised his eyes to meet Coulson's. "Kill the director of S.H.I.E.L.D."

* * *

 **Thanks for reading! All comments are greatly appreciated.**


	4. Chapter 4

"I hope this works," Simmons said to her husband. They were sitting in their car, parked on an isolated country road, as they waited for agents of Hydra to meet them. The car's headlights were the only thing illuminating the night.

"We've had crazier plans." Fitz held her hand. "I'm sure everything will be fine."

Simmons gave him a knowing look.

"Okay. Most likely, something will go horribly wrong first, but then we'll be fine. We've overcome every obstacle the universe has thrown at us so far. We'll get through this too."

"I love you, Fitz," Simmons said.

"I love you too," said Fitz. "We're going to bring our baby home."

Simmons leaned in to hug him, but stopped herself when she saw another set of headlights piercing the darkness. "They're here."

Four Hydra soldiers emerged from the back of a black van, their weapons drawn. "Come out of the car with your hands up!" The lead soldier ordered.

Fitz and Simmons did as they were told. The soldiers patted them down to check for weapons but found none. "You brought proof that Coulson's dead?" The leader asked.

"Yes," Simmons said. "It's in the back seat."

One of the soldiers retrieved a backpack from the car and brought it to the leader while his companions kept their guns trained on Fitz and Simmons.

When he unzipped the backpack, the lead soldier saw a severed head inside. "Whoa. I'm impressed. Who would have thought that a guy like you could kill the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. and cut his head off?"

"Simmons had to do the decapitation," said Fitz. "She's got a much stronger stomach than I do."

The leader leered at Simmons. "Sounds like my kind of girl."

Fitz stepped between the soldier and Simmons. "We did the job we were asked to do. Where's our daughter?"

"Get in the back of the van and we'll take you to her."

Fitz and Simmons looked at each other. Being taken to another location wasn't part of the plan, but they knew they couldn't say no. They climbed into the back of the van. The gunmen climbed in after them and pointed their weapons at Fitz and Simmons for the entire ride.

Eventually the van stopped in front of a large, dilapidated warehouse. The soldiers opened the back doors and ordered Fitz and Simmons to get out. They followed the lead soldier, who was holding the backpack with the severed head, into the warehouse.

Walking past more Hydra soldiers in full tactical gear, Fitz and Simmons were brought to a silver-haired man in an expensive suit. "Doctors Fitz and Simmons," said the silver-haired man as if he were greeting old friends. He spoke with an English accent. "I'm Dr. Miles Shepard, head of Hydra's science and research division in the U.K. It's such a pleasure to finally meet you."

"We can't say the same," said Fitz. "Where's our daughter?"

"We'll get to that. First, I want to see evidence that you killed Phil Coulson." The lead soldier handed him the backpack and Shepard looked inside. "Is this really the head of the head of S.H.I.E.L.D.? It certainly looks like Coulson."

Shepard took the head out of the backpack and examined it closely. "It's clearly a real human head. But I have a hard time believing that two agents who were so loyal to S.H.I.E.L.D. would be capable of killing their former boss." Shepard ran his fingers over every inch of the head until he touched a spot that made the face shimmer and change. "Ah. I recognize this unfortunate fellow. This is one of the mercenaries we sent to your house. You beheaded one of our own soldiers and then used our mask technology to give him Coulson's face. Brilliant! That's exactly the kind of innovative thinking we encourage in our employees. I look forward to working with you two." He put the head back in the backpack.

"We never agreed to work for Hydra," said Simmons.

Shepard laughed. "You don't need to agree. You'll be conditioned to comply."

"You mean brainwashed. What about Eleanor?" Fitz asked.

"With her lineage, we believe she could become an extraordinary asset. Even if you had killed Coulson, we wouldn't have given her back. She'll be raised by a lovely married couple, two of our finest scientists. They'll give her a superior education and teach her the proper values."

"Married Hydra scientists?" Simmons said, her brain working furiously to recall long forgotten names. "Do you mean the Covingtons?" She spoke louder. "Edward and June Covington?"

Shepard's silver eyebrows rose in surprise. "You know them?"

"I met them when I was undercover. Their area of expertise is genetic modification." She turned to Fitz. "They were excited to talk about their experiments on unwilling human subjects."

"They sound like wonderful role models," Fitz said flatly.

"Indeed. Your daughter is in excellent hands." Shepard put a hand on Fitz's shoulder. "She's a part of Hydra now, and so are you." Shepard called two soldiers to his side. "Take Doctors Fitz and Simmons to the conditioning room."

* * *

"I need a location for Edward and June Covington!" Coulson shouted to the S.H.I.E.L.D. techs on the quinjet. He put down his headphones. Now that Fitz and Simmons had walked away, the listening device Simmons had inserted in the nasal cavity of the severed head was only picking up ambient noises.

One of the techs looked up from his laptop. "I've got it, sir. 48 Doughty Street, London."

"Alright. Let's set a course for London." He called May on the quinjet's radio. "May, I'm going to London to see the Covingtons. Hopefully Eleanor is there with them. What's your status?"

"We followed Fitz and Simmons to an old warehouse. My team is staying out of sight until we get the signal."

* * *

"The conditioning process...it doesn't hurt, does it?" Simmons asked as two Hydra soldiers led her and Fitz down a hallway. "I've been tortured by Hydra before, and it was quite an unpleasant experience. It was probably even worse for Fitz. He was in another room and he had to listen to me screaming. Poor thing. If the conditioning process is painful, I'd really appreciate it if you could do Fitz first. Then he wouldn't have to listen to me screaming again."

While Simmons distracted the soldiers, Fitz tapped the bottom of his wedding ring three times, activating the cloaked S.H.I.E.L.D. drones that had been following them ever since they left their car. The drones decloaked and fired icer rounds at the Hydra soldiers. Both men fell to the floor.

Tapping his ring again, Fitz said: "Seek and neutralize Hydra targets." The drones flew back down the hall. Moments later, they heard shouting and gunfire as the soldiers fired back at the drones. That was S.H.I.E.L.D.'s cue to send in reinforcements.

"Let's get out of here," Fitz said. He took Simmons's hand and they ran down the hallway, searching for the nearest exit. All they found was a dead end. They tried a few more hallways that led to more dead ends.

"Did you think you could get away so easily?" said Shepard.

Fitz and Simmons turned to see Shepard pointing a gun at them. "You two are so wonderfully clever, aren't you? You trick me into revealing where your daughter is and then you send your little drones to attack us. But your drones can't help you now; we've shot them all down. And your S.H.I.E.L.D. colleagues are too busy fighting for their own lives to save yours. I can kill you both right now."

Fitz moved to step in front of Simmons, but she held him back. "Aren't we more valuable to Hydra alive?" She argued. "We've created numerous weapons for S.H.I.E.L.D, we're experts on the inhuman phenomenon, and we figured out the portals on Maveth, a problem Hydra couldn't solve after centuries of working on it."

A vein bulged in the middle of Shepard's forehead. "I'm well aware of that. I spent _decades_ of my life trying to solve the portal problem only to be bested by a Scotsman and a _woman_!"

Fitz put his hands in the air and slowly walked toward Shepard. "Okay. I get that you're angry. But you're a scientist. You can think logically. You know that Hydra would benefit from Simmons's expertise. So if you need to kill someone, kill me. Let Simmons live."

"Leopold Fitz!" Simmons shouted. "Don't you dare sacrifice yourself for me! Do you think I want to be a widow?"

"Better a widow than a corpse!" Fitz shouted back. "Jemma, for once in your life, could you stop arguing with me and just let me do this?"

"No, I won't! Why do _you_ always get to be the hero? _You_ step in front of me whenever we're in danger. _You_ gave me the oxygen when we were trapped at the bottom of the ocean. _You_ volunteered to be Hydra's guide on Maveth so they wouldn't kill poor, defenseless Jemma. Well, I'm tired of it. It's the 21st century, Fitz. Women can be heroes too!"

Shepard laughed. "You two really don't need to fight about who gets to die. I'm not planning on sparing either one of you."

"Wait!" said Fitz. "There's one very good reason why you should spare both of us: Eleanor's godmother."

"Who is that?" Shepard asked.

Melinda May grabbed Shepard's arms, forcing him to swing the gun away from Fitz and Simmons. The pressure of her armlock threw Shepard to the ground. She dropped into a crouch, her knee on his jaw as she broke his elbow and pulled the gun from his fingers.

"She's the woman who just kicked your ass," May said.

"Thank you, May," said Simmons. "I don't know how much longer we could have stalled."

"You're welcome. The warehouse is secure. All Hydra combatants are either dead or in S.H.I.E.L.D. custody. Your drones were a big help."

"Any word on Eleanor?" Fitz asked.

"Coulson should be getting her now."

* * *

May brought Fitz and Simmons to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s U.K. base. They sat on a couch in the base's common room, holding each other and taking occasional sips of tea.

An hour later, May gave them the news they desperately wanted to hear: Coulson and Eleanor had arrived. When they saw Coulson coming towards them, holding their baby girl, both parents cried with joy. Coulson handed the baby to Simmons.

"Oh Eleanor!" Simmons kissed her daughter's cheeks. "We missed you so much! Your mummy and daddy were so worried about you!"

Fitz kissed Eleanor's forehead. "We love you, Eleanor. We're very happy to have you back." Eleanor smiled at both of her parents.

May noticed a bandage on the side of Coulson's face. "I'm guessing the Covingtons didn't hand her over willingly."

"They put up a good fight," said Coulson. "But nothing was going to stop me from bringing Eleanor home."

Wiping tears off his face, Fitz turned to Coulson. "Thank you, sir."

"That's what godparents are for," Coulson said. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm starving. If you don't mind hanging out here for a while, I'd love to make you dinner."

"That sounds nice," Simmons said. She and Fitz had barely eaten since Eleanor was taken.

Soon Coulson, May, Fitz and Simmons were eating spaghetti and reminiscing about old times. Eleanor, having already been fed by her mother, was asleep in her father's lap.

"You two were so young when I recruited you," Coulson recalled. "Sometimes I can't believe you're married with a baby."

"Sometimes we can't believe it either," said Fitz. He looked down at his daughter and felt overwhelmed with emotion. "I didn't realize how much Eleanor was going to change our lives. If Hydra had kept her, I don't know what we would have done." Simmons squeezed his hand and kissed his cheek.

"Hydra took a big hit today." Coulson smiled at the sleeping baby. "If they're smart, they'll never go after Eleanor again...but if they do, we'll be ready."

END

* * *

 **Thanks for reading! All comments are greatly appreciated.**


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